Apple today announced new features of Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard that make it even easier for users to set up and manage. Scheduled to ship in October, Leopard Server is the most significant improvement to the server operating system since Mac OS X Server was launched, introducing new features such as a wiki server, making it easy to connect groups over a shared intranet; Podcast Producer, the ideal way to automatically produce and publish podcasts to iTunes or a blog; and Spotlight Server to quickly find content stored on other servers. Leopard Server also includes the new iCal Server, based on the CalDAV open standard that works with Leopard’s new iCal application.
“Only Apple can deliver an advanced server operating system packed with over 250 new features on the same day as our client OS,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. “With no client access licenses, Leopard Server is the most affordable way to bring innovative server features, such as group calendaring and a wiki server, to everyone from small businesses to large educational institutions.”
Small businesses and workgroups without an IT department can take advantage of Leopard Server’s ability to automatically configure Leopard clients for use on the server, including file sharing, Mail, iCal, iChat, Address Book and VPN. Leopard Server also includes a new setup interface with a built-in Network Health Check, a new Server Preferences application and a server status Dashboard widget.
With the wiki server, groups can easily create and edit collaborative web pages, called wikis, with a few clicks of a mouse. The wiki server also maintains a complete history to restore previous entries and merge or compare different versions. Podcast Producer is the easiest way for anyone to record content, automatically upload it to the server and convert it into a podcast. Using Xgrid, Podcast Producer can leverage Macs on the network to encode the video, and the podcast can then be delivered over the Internet to a blog, iTunes, or even to multimedia enabled mobile phones over high speed wireless networks using QuickTime® Streaming Server.
Apple has made scheduling across different calendar programs simple with iCal Server to coordinate events, schedule meetings and track time more effectively. iCal Server uses the open CalDAV standard for integration with leading calendar programs, including iCal 3 in Leopard, Mozilla’s Sunbird and OSAF’s Chandler. In addition, Apple’s Directory makes it easy to search for people in an organization and view their contact information, picture, colleagues, groups and even see a location map.
Spotlight Server takes Spotlight’s lightning-fast desktop search capability to the network server level. Designed for workgroups with shared documents, projects and files, Spotlight Server delivers search results of content stored on mounted network volumes. Content indexing is done automatically and transparently on the server so searches are always fast and up-to-date.
Leopard Server’s core services, including Apache 2, MySQL 5, Postfix, Cyrus, Podcast Producer and QuickTime Streaming Server are 64-bit, allowing users to take full advantage of their 64-bit hardware’s performance and processing power and work with larger data sets. Since Leopard Server is fully 32-bit compatible, users can run 32-bit and 64-bit applications natively side-by-side. Leopard Server is also optimized to take full advantage of Intel’s latest multi-core processors.
Other new features in Leopard Server include:
• Server Admin 4 with new file sharing and permission controls, tiered administration, and options for organizing servers into smart groups
• iChat Server 2 to securely communicate over instant messaging with others on different systems outside an organization’s firewall
• External Accounts to enable Leopard users to store their home directory on an external FireWire® or USB portable drive
• a new System Imaging Utility that uses a workflow-based editor to create customized images that can include Boot Camp partitions
• Xgrid 2 featuring GridAnywhere for ad hoc distributed computing in environments without dedicated controllers, and Scoreboard for prioritizing job distribution to the fastest available CPU
• QuickTime Streaming Server 6 with support for 3GPP Release 6 bit rate adaptation for smooth streaming when delivering content to mobile phones regardless of network congestion.
Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard is scheduled to ship in October and will be available through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of US$499 for a 10-client edition and $999 for an unlimited-client edition.
More info: http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/leopard/
Yawn! The stock’s tumbling…
Stevo shouldn’t have done the Keynote.
Man…I was expecting a lot more, this was lame
Loaded it on Vista and it explodes.
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as expected let everyone who was disappointed with the keynote begin!! that sucked!! apple you suck!! that was lame, I want my 1 hour back, apple you didn’t release the macbook that does my homework and wipes my ass at the same time!! you suck apple.
MW-early as it has started real early with the apple bashing.
Ah, yes. The build-up, then the inevitable let-down. Apple helped fuel the rumors when it took the Apple Store down, suggesting that changes were imminent. Now it’s back up… no obvious changes, so what was the point? No new hardware, no new iWork.
Only this morning one of my colleagues, who already has a Mac or two, told me his six-year old Dell had died, and he’s ready to buy another Mac. I told him to wait to learn if anything would be announced. Nothing was.
“Now it’s back up… no obvious changes, so what was the point? “
The look and feel of the site was redesigned.
where are the “top secret3 features ?
no new macs ?
What I liked:
Stack
iCal hot update
Redmond jokes were great.
Games were great.
No iLife 07..
Been waiting for a long time for ‘numbers’ in iWork.
Didn’t see anything great enough for Redmond to copy.
Didn’t see a tighter Google integration
Still see a mail program weaker than Google Gmail.
Didn’t see a .mac update
Didn’t see iChat with Windows which was definitely way more wanted than Safari for Windows.
No Wireless controllers for Apple TV for the games.
No Movie rentals
No new movie co’s on itunes
Steve. Throw us a bone..
The real problem: I didn’t see anything that would inspire me to spend more today than yesterday at Apple.com
“Redmond jokes were great.”
Couldn’t agree more. This is what Apple needs to do…
1. Sell us last years hardware for twice the price of a comparable Windows machine….
2. Show us basically the same OS we saw a year ago with a pretty new finder. If Steve says “It’s really beautiful” that will make it more fuctional.
3. No iLife
4. No iWork
5. No upgrade on .mac
6. No corporate push mail for he iphone
7. A company officer stumbled with the iPhone Keyboard (But it’s easier to use than a “Crappy Blackberry”)….
BUT, Steve told great “Redmond Jokes”… That’ll do it for me!!!! I’m running out and paying $800 for a new Mini with a 2 year old processor, small hard drive, too little RAM, and an OS with 2 year old features!!!!
I saw no mention of a “Podcast Producer” for the client version of the OS, does that mean:
a) there IS none?
b) they’re leaving it in Garageband 3?
c) they’re prepping iLife ’08, to be released in time for X-Mas?
I do my post-production editing in Amadeus II, stuff I ought to be able to do in Garageband. And I use iWeb to create my show’s graphics, and Graphic Converter to convert them to JPEGs. Sigh!
DLMeyer – the Voice of GLHorton’s Stage Page podcast.
MW=new … what’s really ‘new’ here?
WOOHOO, Home directories on ipods here we come:
“External Accounts to enable Leopard users to store their home directory on an external FireWire® or USB portable drive”
MDN Word: Real
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